You're a Gem: An Animated Galentines Day Brunch Invitation

Now that the invitations have been officially sent out, I am super excited to share them here on the blog!

I love paper invites sent through the mail, but I was running a touch behind and mail service in Chicago isn't always reliable so rather than risk them being lost in the mail, I decided to do e-mail invitations. I've seen Paperless Post and I love the idea of e-mailed cards and invitations that feel more special than e-vites. 

While I found a couple suitable options on Paperless Post, I had too strong a vision of what I wanted on the invitations so I decided to tackle them myself because I am that delicate balance of crazy and challenge-seeking. 

So here's how I did it:

1. I created the gemstone background by photographing little gemstones on white poster board.
2. I designed the actual invitation in photoshop, using the gemstones as the background and adding in the text to the right.
3. I cut a quick envelope liner, glued it in, and then photographed the envelope in various positions: facing up, facing down, and open. I photographed it on white poster board.
4. In photoshop, I copied the envelope onto the gemstone background and made jpegs for the envelope in each position.
5. I added the invitation file to these jpegs.
6. Using this tutorial, I turned these various files into a gif on photoshop.

For the actual invitation e-mail, I slowed down the last frame so that it would stay on screen a bit longer so the recipient would have a chance to read it. I also included the invitation as an attachment just in case they had any trouble with it.

So far the response has been pretty great! This just may become my new go-to invitation style. It's convenient yet still retains that special touch of paper stationery.

To see more of this year's "You're a Gem" Galentine's Day party preparations and to see last year's "Parks and Rec Inspired" party, click here!